KARACHI:Migraine is the number one cause of disability affecting people under the age of fifty years, the group with the highest contribution to workforce worldwide, making one of the highest negative economic impacts globally, said Eminent Neurophysician Prof Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, speaking while presiding over a seminar on World Brain Day here Monday.
The seminar was arranged by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Tele -Global Public Health on the theme of “Migraine: The Painful Truth” at Ward 20, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center(JPMC) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Dr Fowzia said that according to the latest analysis from the GBD study, almost 3 billion people had a headache disorder in 2016 while 1.89 billion people had a diagnosis of tension-type headache, and 1.04 billion had a diagnosis of migraine.
She said migraine was responsible for 45.12 million years of life lived with disability (YLD), with a peak in prevalence in women between 15 and 49 years. One in seven people suffer from this disabling, least respected, worst managed, least recognized complex brain disorder worldwide.
She said the symptoms of migraine include pounding unilateral headache, preceded by visual or other aura; nausea, vomiting and light and sound sensitivity. She said that however every headache is not migraine. She said people cannot see what the sufferers feel.
She said in Pakistan very little data is available on epidemiology of migraine, adding a study done on medical students showed 34-40% of students suffered migraines. She said diagnosis depends on patient’s history, as there are no specific tests or clinical markers.
She said treatment methods include abortive and prophylactic. She said we must listen to patients, as migraine is mixed up with a lot of things. She said emotional factors of this disease are unstable relations with people, general dissatisfaction with life, sleep disturbances, and hormonal changes.
She said: “If doctors do not address these matters, they will not be treating their patients.” She asked the doctors no to just throw drugs at their patients but also be attentive and empathetic.